HYDROCARBONS I NCORPORATED I NTO THE CUTI CUL AR PROFI L E THROUGH DIET DO NOT GENERATE AGGRESSI ON I N ARGENTI NE ANTS (LI NEPI THEMA HUMI LE MAYR)

ROXANA JOSENS; PATRIZIA D´ETTORRE; NURIA MORROW GALLI

Foz de Iguazu

Congreso; 1st Joint Meeting ISCE/ALAEQ: 4th Congress of the Latin American Association of Chemical Ecology and 32nd Annual Meetting of the International Society of Chemical Ecology; 2016

International Society of Chemical Ecology

Argentine ants are highly invasive in new environments, and commonly overexpress polydomy (neighboring nests show no aggression among them, thus establishing one supercolony). This species is well known to form large supercolonies that can extend for many kilometers in the invasive range. The lack of intraspecific aggression is considered one of the key factors of their success as invaders. Aggression only occurs when an ant recognizes the cuticular profile of another ant as a non-nestmate. In this conceptual framework, we investigated (1) whether eight saturated linear or methyl-branched hydrocarbons (CHs) with 23 to 30 carbon atoms could be incorporated into the cuticle through diet (2); whether the CHs that were effectively incorporated could trigger aggression; and (3) the dynamics of incorporation of the CHs up to 3 days after they were ingested. To identify which CH was incorporated into the cuticle and to analyze their dynamics after consumption, solvent extracts were analyzed via Gas Chromatography?Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). To test if these CHs could trigger aggression, behavioral tests were performed between treated and untreated ants. We found that (1) all CHs were effectively incorporated into the cuticle 24 hours after ingestion; (2) none of the CHs tested elicited aggression; (3) all CHs remained on the cuticle 3 days after ingestion. Even though each CH was effectively incorporated into the cuticle within 24 hours after ingestion, its single presence was not enough to trigger aggression during the behavioral tests. We thus conclude that the CHs tested in this study are not key cues for nestmate recognition in L. humile.